<p>Hold on a second. How much time put in would be considered “deep” involvement?
(0.5 - 4 hours a day? Days a week? Years?)</p>
<p>^
At LEAST 2-3 hours a week I’d say. Not so much it will interfere with your school work.</p>
<p>If you want to know what “good EC’s” look like, check out the second answer on this Quora thread: [MIT</a> (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): What does it take to get into MIT? - Quora](<a href=“http://www.quora.com/MIT-Massachusetts-Institute-of-Technology/What-does-it-take-to-get-into-MIT]MIT”>http://www.quora.com/MIT-Massachusetts-Institute-of-Technology/What-does-it-take-to-get-into-MIT)</p>
<p>Is there a point to putting National Honors Society on my EC list? I joined it on impulse, but quite honestly, I regret doing so. I don’t understand why the club exists or why so may people make a big deal about it. Wouldn’t adding NHS to your application make it look like a cookie-cutter one? The same thing goes for Key Club.</p>
<p>I agree on the value of NHS. I am in the exact same situation. They pump it up to make it look like pomp and circumstance, and that it will guarantee college admissions. But, once in, they don’t do scratch. I haven’t turned in one report on community service since I was inducted as a sophomore. They still count me on the roster. The meetings are useless. And so many people are in it, it devalues NHS.
If they kick me out, I won’t give a damn. I have the Federal Reserve, Council on Foreign Relations, and local mayor to attest to my honor and service experience. I think it is safe to say that I don’t need, and I don’t want, NHS.</p>
<p>Then why don’t you just quit NHS?</p>
<p>See this thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1452861-please-chance-me-cornell-really-stressed.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1452861-please-chance-me-cornell-really-stressed.html</a></p>
<p>Best I’ve seen on here honestly.</p>
<p>@Ractogon – just out of curiosity : how did you get these relationships with Fed Res and CFR and what did you do ? These are rather unusual for a high school student, I’d say.</p>
<p>do you really NEED outstanding extracurriculars to get into your first choice school? mine in syracuse university</p>
<p>do you really NEED outstanding extracurriculars to get into your first choice school? mine is syracuse university</p>
<p>Bookmarked! As a UK student, this thread is absolutely hilarious, I’ve been showing my friends too. Particularly the third post of the first page had me laughing pretty hard 
(I’m not kidding by the way, it truly is hilarious)</p>
<p>parentinflorida:
I got those relationships (and others) through my passion for economics and international relations, and I fortunately am good at networking. I have networked with my Mayor, congressman, Federal Reserve, CFR, and Trilateral Commission in 2012.
Being the obsessed person i am with econ and IR, I read up and discovered the real centers of power in the US. I began handwriting letters to all the people in positions I wanted to be in. I wrote to the CEOs of Chevron, Wells Fargo, News Corp, and etc. None wrote back. Only the Mayor did. It seemed to my mom that my strategy was failing.
I however did get a response from the CFR, TC, and San Francisco Federal Reserve. I got a 1 to 1 meeting with the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of SF, which I am grateful for for finally pulling me out of obscurity. I got in that meeting the opportunity to work with economists there. Thus began my relationship with the Fed. A month ago, I sent an email to the Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, since she taught at my local UC Berkeley, and was the former head of the SF Fed. the VICE CHAIR of the Fed wrote back! she said that whenever I am in washington, i can see her at the Fed HQ.
I got my relationship with the CFR in 2012 too. A couple months ago, I wrote a commentary about China’s economy, and sent it to Foreign Affairs as a letter to the Editor. I got a notification that my letter to the editor was going to be published in FA, the premier journal in political science! I also got an email from the Pres of the CFR, and apparently he sees value in my economics and IR perspectives. I got invited to the CFR San Francisco roundtable group. I hope that takes me somewhere.
On another note, I sent an email to the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, telling him how awesome the WSJ is, hoping to sucker up and get a free subscription. He wrote back with an internship offer. Which unfortunately, the WSJ never followed up on.
My relationships with the other organizations are a similar story. But now I know how to sucker up to people in the orgs. I want to network with: read up as much as you can about their field, and the orgs. themselves, and write not to the head, but to the person connected to the head that will likely meet with you. It’s helped me get meetings with the Fortune 500 companies in my area to talk about economics, and is what got me to where I am</p>
<p>I think leadership is always important these days. You should have a couple positions in some clubs. Dedication is always good too; if you’ve continued playing piano for 14 years, that’s impressive.</p>
<p>Also try to have some that relate to your field of study. For example, for Engineering, I had Science Bowl/American Mathematics Competition/University Interscholastic League/etc.</p>
<p>I was president of 5 clubs (including editor-in-chief of the school literary magazine). ;)</p>
<p>One important part of having good ECs is making it shine through in all parts of your application. It does you no good to have invested a lot of energy in a part-time job, leadership role at an organization, or a science project if you’re only going to put it as an entry in your activities list. This means your interview, awards, essays, and recommendations should all corroborate your EC accomplishments. </p>
<p>You dont need to spend your entire interview talking about one EC, but be sure to convey how important it is to you and how much time and effort you have invested in it. Leadership and awards are sure ways to show accomplishment and dedication in a field, so dont forgot to list them (if there isnt a separate section, be sure to include them in your activities list). If you dont write your main essay about an EC, try writing one of the smaller supplemental essays about it. </p>
<p>For teacher and counselor recommendations, this means sitting all of your recommenders down and telling them a little bit about your love of botany as shown through your 3 year research at a university lab or how your soccer team became state champions and your role as the team captain. Even giving them a copy of your activities / leadership / award list with a few words describing each will be very much appreciated if they have a lot of recommendations to write. Its always smart to help your recommenders help you!</p>
<p>I have some questions. I’m thinking of applying to a paid internship program in the State department next year of my junior year. Not only will it go towards the career that I’m interested it but it’s a really great program. Does that count as a <em>great EC</em>? And what about going to state and nationals in competitions. This year my knowledge bowl team went to state and the history bowl team I captain is going to nationals. I’ve been doing knowledge bowl for 2 years an history bowl for one (we started the club only this year) I was wondering if those count as good/great ECs? I have other things that I do but I had particular questions about these two things.The only problem is it’s hard to show how dedicated I am to these activities because I move around really frequently. Any advice?</p>
<p>Can you guys explain an EC more? I’m still kinda confused on what exactly it is</p>
<p>I really liked this thread:)
Well what everyone says is totally correct…All I have Is 3 achievements that I value closest to my heart…and I believe that will indeed take me ahead…</p>
<p>Hey guys I would really appreciate your input and would be willing to comment on any of your concerns.
<a href=“Michigan vs. UF - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>Michigan vs. UF - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;
<p>I couldnt agree more.
What the universities are expecting most are not all about scores,not all about achievements u’ve already got.What they are really caring is how much potential power u have and how much u devote yourself to it.</p>